Dental appliance.



W. P. DAVISON.

DENTAL APPLIANCE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 21, 1912.

1,031,533. Patented July 2,1912.

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WILLIAM F. DAVISON, OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, ASSIGNOB. 0F ONE-HALF TO '1. P. DAVIE, OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.

DENTAL APPLIANCE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 2, 1912.

Application filed February 21, 1912. Serial No. 679,080.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM F. DAVIsON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Richmond, in the county of Henrico and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dental Appliances, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is an improvement in dental appliances having for an object to provide an improved dental appliance which can be easily applied and will efficiently serve the purpose for which it is designed; and the invention consists in certain novel constructions as will be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawing Figure 1 is a plan View showing two teeth with the rubber dam applied and the holder in its initialposition. Fig. 2 is a similar view with the holder adjusted to its ultimate position. Fig. 8 is a front elevation of the invention as in use. Fig. 4. is a detail perspective View of the holder.

The rubber dam A is applied to the teeth B in the usual manner and the purpose of my improvement is to secure this rubber dam in place to permit the desired dental operations upon the teeth B. To this end, I provide what for convenience of reference I call a holder C shown in detail in Fig. 4; ready for application and in Fig. 1 applied previous to bending its opposite ends into holding position. The holder C is a strip of soft, easily bendable metal, in the form of a wedge with its small end Ccomparatively pointed to facilitate its insertion between adjacent teeth and its other end split longitudinally at C forming arms C adapted to be spread apart and upwardly along the dam A to secure the same in position and away .from the teeth, while the end C projecting beyond the inner side of the teeth may be bent as shown in Fig. 2, alongside one of the teeth to prevent any outward displacement of the holder.

The holder may be of any suitable soft easily bendable metal or other material and I have found that an alloy of tin and lead is well adapted for the purpose, although other metals or alloys of metals possessing the desired properties may be employed as con venience may dictate.

The holders may be supplied at a small cost, can be easily applied after the rubber dam has been fitted to position and readily bent by the fingers of the operator to the ultimate holding position shown in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawing. The device is not only easily applied, but when applied, efiiciently serves its purpose in holding the dam in position and can be easily removed after the dental operation is completed.

In the use of the device, the rubber dam is applied to two adjacent teeth B, it may be in the ordinary manner. A wedge C is then pressed between the teeth below and in close proximity to the outer side of the rubber dam until the wedge clamps by its wedging action between the teeth. The inner and outer ends of the wedge are then bent to secure the wedge in place and to hold the dam out of the way.

It will be noticed that the improvement provides a simple,-novel substitute for the ordinary ligature usually employed in securing rubber dams in place.

While the device as described is primarily intended as a rubber dam holder, it will be understood that it has a broader function in that it may be used without a dam to hold back the gum and form a stop to prevent any leakage of saliva down to a cavity which will be exposed when the appliance is in position. In this use of the appliance, it is pressed between two adjacent teeth up close to the gums until a tight joint is formed by the wedge between the teeth and the arms in front will then be bent to approximately the same position as that shown in Fig. 3, except that the dam will be omitted and the inner end of the wedge will also be bent to secure the same in place.

I claim:

1. A holder for dental rubber dams consisting of a strip of easily bendable metal in the form of a wedge with its small end comparatively pointed to facilitate its insertion between adjacent teeth andits other end separated into arms adapted to be spread and bent along the dam,'the pointed I split longitudinally from one end forming end of the Wedge being also adapted to be arms adapted to be spread apart, substanbent along the darn, substantially as set tially as described.

forth. WILLIAM F. DAVISON.

2. A dental appliance adapted for use,

substantially as described, and consisting of a Wedge shape strip of easily bendable metal Witnesses:

SoLoN C. KEMON, PERRY B. TURPIN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 031 

